Head-bar bracket for venetian blinds



Aug. 8, 1939. H. K. LoRENTzEN HEAD-BAR BRACKET FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Original Filed May 17, 1938 NVENTOR fa/lf I.' anonime/z BY M17, M

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Patented Aug. 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-- l Hans K. Lorentzen, MontclaintN. .1.

Application May 17, 1938, Serial No. 208,339

Renewed March 22, 1939 1o claims. (ci. rss-17) ends referred to, in a structure of great simplicity. the parts whereof may be easily -and 15 cheaply made as metal stampings, and such that they may be assembled and disassembled for shipment or to meet the exigencies of 'rightor left-hand mounting without requiring any operation much more diillcult than the insertion of Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the accompanying drawing illustrating the same.

Inthe accompanying drawing, in which I have shown an embodiment of the invention in the form as at present preferred: l

- Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a complete bracket embodying the invention;

n Fig. 2 shows a head-bar mounted on a complete bracket such as shown in Fig. 1, installed and with its parts arranged as a right-hand bracket. The view shows the bracket primarily in side elevation, with the head-bar and window u frame indicated in vertical section. The mounting shown is known -in the trade as an outside mounting, i. e., the bracket is mounted on 'the front or face of the window jamb;

Fig. 3 is in general a frontelevation, show n ing much the same parts as Fig. 2. Again the bracket is arranged as a right-hand bracket.

The mounting is what is known in the trade as4 bars s'hown in Figs.2 and 3.

Referring to the numerals on the drawing, Ii

u designates as a whole a one-piece sheet metal stamping', having a planar body 1 formed. with legs 8 and 9 which are of equal length and disposed at right angles to each other. Wings I0, I', II, and IIare formed integrally with the body 1, and project at right angles to the body on'the same side thereof. The pair of wings II) and I 0 on leg 8 roughly deiines a rightfangle with the pairvof wings II and II' on leg 9; and the stamping as awhole is symmetrical about the line that bisects the said right angle. These wings are-all perforated as at h, to receive screws I2 for' mounting the bracket on the front or face of a window jamb as shown in Fig. 2. In case the bracket is to be mounted on the side of the window jamb the screws' I2' will be inserted as shown in Fig. 3 through holes I3 in the bracket body I (see Figs. 1 and 2). y

Itwill be apparent that thebracket can be utilized for either right-hand or left-hand mounting. In the former'case, as shown in Fig. 2, the wings II and II are available for attachment to the upright front surface of a window jamb, while the wings Ill and I0 serve to sup-1. port the head-bar I4. When the stamping is to be mounted left-*hand on the front of a Window jamb it is partially rotated about its axis of symmetry, so that the wings II and II become the head-bar support, while the wings III and I0' are secured to the Window jamb. In the case of inside mounting such as shown in Fig. 3, the holes I3 will be used for attaching the bracket to the side lof the jamb, regardless of whether the bracket be positioned right-hand or left-hand.

Guideways for the reception and control of a head-bar clamp are provided in the bracket on either side of the symmetry axis and at right angles to each other. Since the two guideways are alike, only one will be described.

Between wings I0 and I0' there is a depressed metal portion I 5v which projects laterally from body 'l -para'llel to wings Ill and I0. Located perpendicularly to portion I5 is a portion I 5a which is displaced sidewise from the bracket body v'1, this being made possible by metal of the bracket body being cut out as at I6. Below opening I6 the bracket body isprovided with another opening I'I, alined and parallel with opening I6, the lower boundary of opening l1 being a pair of `tongues I8, I8 whose free ends are spaced apart and bent away from the bracket body in the direction of the extension of portion I 5a from the body. Between the openings IB and I1 there remains a strip I9 in the plane of body 'I and provided midway of its length with a hole 20. Y

Adapted for cooperative relation with either one of the guideways just described is a clamp membercomprising a lengthor strip of metal 2l. At one end this has a bent-over clamp portion 22, and at the other end it has portion 2l bent away from the strip parallel to and in the same direction as. clamp portion 23. The portion 2l constitutes a finger-piece and is connected to the main body of the strip 2l by a reduced neck 24. Spaced along the length of strip 2| is a plurality (two are shown) of punch marks 2l forming dimple projections; and in addition a half-round Aprojection 28.

In use, the clamp member is brought into assembled relation with the bracket by inserting the finger-piece end 23 through one or the other of the openings I6 according to whether the bracket is to be used for rightor left-hand mounting, the bent-over end portions 22 and 23 being directed inwardly towards the wings of the bracket. 'Ihis insertion is made as indicated in dot-dash lines in Fig. 4. The part i5 of the bracket is depressed below the general plane of the wings I0 and I0 sufficiently to permit the swinging movement necessary to insert the clamp member in the guideway. Portion 45a and the tongues I8 are each displaced sufficiently from the body 1 to permit the clamp strip 2l to slide freely past them over the bridge strip I9 until the lowermost one of the circular projections 25 frictionally engages the strip I9 and snaps into the hole 20. If continued pressure is exerted on the clamp strip in a downward direction, the projection 25 will leave its seat in hole 20, and the next above projection 25 will snap into the hole 2li. The limit of the dow'nward movement is reached when the stop projection 26 engages the upper edge of strip I9. The clamp strip with its finger-piece 23 is enabled to pass the tongues Il because the reduced neck portion of the fingerpiece at its junction with the main length of the strip is of less width than the space between the free ends of the tongues.

It is believed that the manner in which the brackets support and retain the type of head-bar shown in Figs. 2 and 3 will be clear from the drawing. At present such commercial head-bars are one and one-eighth or seven-eights inches tall. The dimples 25 are spaced from clamping portion 22 in relation to these standard heights. In locating the brackets on the window jamb, these dimples are utilized to space clamp 22 as shown in dot-dash lines of Fig. 3 so that portion 22 may be placed against the top of the window frame and act as a gage to appropriately locate the bracket. After the bracket has been so 1ocated, the mounting screws are inserted.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the head-bar has in its top surface a longitudinal groove 30 which receives the clamp member 22 and limits its downward movement. In Fig. 5, the clamp member enters a slot or slot-like cavity 3| in the vertical end wall of the bar. This slot is incapable of limiting the downward movement of the clamp, but projection 2l arrests the clamp in retaining relationship to the head-bar.

I claim:

l. A bracket comprising a planar body of sheet metal having two divergng legs perpendicular to each other; wings integral with and defining the outer boundaries of the legs, the wings extending perpendicularly to the body on the same side thereof; a guideway formed in each leg; and a clamp member insertable into and removable from either of the guideways.

2. A bracket comprising a planar body of sheet metal having two divergng legs perpendicular to each other; wings integral with and defining the outer boundaries of the legs, the Wings extending perpendicularly to the body on the same side thereof; a guideway formed in each leg; and a clamp member insertable into and removable from and adjustable in either of the guideways.

3. The device of claim l, in which each guideway comprises a depressed portion of the body with an opening adjacent to it, and a pair of confronting tongues spaced from said depressed portion, the tongues extending away from the body with their free ends spaced apart; and in which the clamp member is an elongated strip having both ends bent over in the same direction, one of the bent-over ends being connected to the strip `by a reduced neck that is narower than the space separating the ends of the aforesaid tongues.

4. The device of claim 2, in which each guideway comprises a depressed portion of the body with an opening adjacent to it, a second opening spaced from the first, and portions depressed from the general plane below the second opening; and in which the clamp member is an elongated strip slidable between the body on one side and the depressed portions on the other side, the clamp member and the body having cooperating portions for resiliently holding the clamp member in one of a plurality of positions to which it may be slid.

5. The device of claim 2, in which each guideway comprises a depressed portion of the body with an opening adjacent to it, a second opening spaced from the first, a pair of confronting tongues immediately below the second opening, the tongues extending away from the body with their free ends spaced apart; in which the clamp member is an elongated strip having both ends bent over, one of the bent-over ends being connected to the strip by a reduced neck that is narrower than the space between the tongue ends; and in which the clamp member and the portion of the body lying between said openings have cooperating portions for resiliently holding the clamp member in one of a plurality of positions to which it may be slid.

6. A Venetian blind head-bar bracket comprising: a sheet-metal bracket stamping having a fiat body portion and a guideway integral with said body portion, the guideway comprising sheet-metal elements spaced lengthwise of the guideway and pressed out from the plane of said flat body portion to slidably hold a keeper against remaining metal of the flat body portion, at least one of said sheet-metal elements being in the form of a pair of confronting tongues with their ends spaced apart; and a keeper removable from and insertable into said guideway, the keeper comprising a strip of metal having both ends bent over in the same direction and one of the bent over ends being connected to the strip by a reduced neck portion adapted to pass between said confronting tongues for insertion of the keeper into the guideway and removal of the keeper from the guideway.

7. A Venetian blind head-bar bracket comprising: a sheet-metal bracket stamping having a horizontal bar-supporting flange and also having a vertical flat body portion and a guideway integral with said bodyportion, the guideway comprising a pair of confronting tongues pressed out from the plane of said flat body portion and having their. free ends spaced apart; and a keep- ,3,5

er insertable into said guideway and slidable therein, the keeper comprising a strip of metal having both ends bent over in the same direction, one end having a zone of lesser width than the istrip, said zone being adapted to pass between said confronting tongues for insertion of the keeper into the guideway.

8. A head-bar bracket for Venetian blinds, comprising: a planar body of sheet metal having two diverging leg portions perpendicular to each other; spaced wings integral with and defining the outer boundaries of the leg portions, the wingsV extending perpendicularly of the body on the same side thereof, and there being two of the wings on each leg portion with a space between them adjacent to the center of the leg; a headbar retaining member having a vertical sliding portion positioned adjacent to said planar body and having a laterally extending nger adapted to be moved downwardly into a groove in the top of the head-bar, said retaining member being shiftable from one leg portion of said body to the other whereby the bracket may be mounted either right-hand or left-hand; and means to slidingly support said retaining member on either of said leg portions with said vertical portion of the retaining member in position to slide between the two wings dening the outer boundary of the leg portion.

9. A head-bar bracket for Venetian blinds, comprising: a planar body of sheet metal having two diverging leg portions perpendicular toeach other; a plurality of spaced wings integral with and defining the outer boundaries of each of the leg portions, the wings extending perpendicularly of the body on the same side thereof; a headbar retaining member having a vertical sliding portion positioned adjacent to said planar body and having a laterally extending ringer adapted to be moved downwardly into agroove in the top of thel head-bar, said retaining member being shiftable from one leg portion of said body to the other whereby the bracket maybe mounted either right-hand or left-hand; and means to slidingly support said retaining member on either of said leg portions with said vertical portion of the retaining member in position to slide between the spaced Wings defining the outer boundary of the leg portion.

10. A head-bar bracket for Venetian blinds, comprising: a planar body of sheet metal having two diverging leg portions perpendicular to each other; wings integral with and defining the outer boundaries of the leg portions, the wings extending perpendicularly of the body on the same side thereof; a head-bar retaining member having a vertical sliding portion positioned adjacent to said planar body, said retaining member being shiftable from one leg portion of said body to the other whereby the bracket may be mounted either right-hand or left-hand; and means to slidingly support said retaining member on either of said leg portions.

HANS K. LORENTZEN. 

